Travel Butlers African Safari Blog.

Six women each live for a month with six different tribes all over the world. In this upcoming episode of Tribal Wives, Yvonne Power, a 36-year-old single working mother of three, goes to live with the Himba in Namibia.

The Himba are a semi-nomadic tribe of pastoralists who live on the harsh sun-baked plains of northern Namibia. The women are striking, covering their hair and bodies in red ochre. They are a polygamous tribe where men can have up to five wives and marriages are arranged for girls when they are young as 12 years old.

Yvonne is ground down by the daily routine of nine-to-five and coping with the demands of a family. As she struggles with the Himbas’ deep gender divides and arranged marriages, she begins to make discoveries about herself - especially when drought threatens to devastate the village.

If you miss it on Wednesday, you can catch it again on http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

South Africa and Namibia are both very well suited to self-drive holidays, and this is the most popular type of trip for visitors to both countries.

The driving experience will be very familiar to overseas visitors in many respects:  both countries drive on the left hand side of the road, and all signposts are written in English. 

As in Europe and much of the rest of the world, it is law to wear a seat belt at all times, and using a mobile phone when driving is prohibited. 

The main roads and highways are generally maintained in an good condition, especially in South Africa, however some more remote areas (including most of Namibia!) will have gravel roads which you will need to drive more cautiously on.

2WD or 4WD?
There are very few roads in South Africa where you would need a 4WD.  Even in the self-drive National Parks and safari areas such as Kruger or Hluhluwe, the roads are good and a 2WD can adequately cope with the odd bit of unevenness. 

The story is much the same in Namibia for most of the year, although if you are planing on going to very remote areas or travel extensively in the wet season then you may want to consider a 4WD vehicle.

Driving Licence
All drivers must have a valid driving licence from their country of residence. If the license is not printed in English, then you will need to obtain an International Drivers Licence.

Please note that the various car hire companies have different regulations regarding the length of time that you need to have held a driving licence, so it is advisable to check with your hire car company about their requirements.

Buying Petrol (Gas)
It is worth noting that none of the petrol stations in South Africa or Namibia are self-service, and they alos only accept locally issued credit cards, meaning visitors from overseas will need to keep some cash handy to buy fuel. 

You can read more about driving in South Africa and driving in Namibia on our website.

Travel Butlers are delighted to announce  a photo competition that we are running in association with SA Wines Online where you could win one of 3 cases of South African wine. 

Each year we are sent hundreds of photos by people whose holidays we have helped to organise, and rather than leave them to collect metaphorical dust on a forgotten computer somewhere we have decided that we should share them with visitors to our website and offer prizes for the 3 very best pictures.

The competition is open to anyone who booked their trip through Travel Butlers, and the closing date for entries is 31st May 2008.

Entries will be published on our web site, and we will be judging the competition and notifying the winners in June - the 3 best pictures will each win a mixed case of 6 premium South African Wines with a value of £60.

About SA Wines Online – get a £10 discount on your first order.
Shortlisted as Decanter Online Wine Merchant for 2007, SA Wines Online has the largest range of fine South African wines in the UK. You will find your favourites all in one place and have them delivered directly to your door anywhere in the UK.

Get a £10 discount on your first wine order at: http://www.sawinesonline.co.uk/.

We have updated our weather and climate pages for South Africa and Namibia to include 3 day weather forecasts for key desinations. The forecasts come from the BBC and can be seen by following the links below:

South Africa Climate & Weather Forecast

Namibia Climate & Weather Forecast

Please note that the availability of forecasts for Namibia is fairly limited, and they all tend to be concentrated in the south of the country and coastal regions (there are no forecasts available for Etosha, Sossusvlei, or the Caprivi Strip).